History Usefulnotes / LosAngeles

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'':
** The ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers'' from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, as well as ''ComicBook/IronMan'' and ''ComicBook/WonderMan'' in that period, as both title characters were members of the team, though Iron Man had moved to California before the formation of the "Wackos", with Tony Stark building a new company from scratch in LA.
*** A RunningGag early on in ''Wonder Man'' had Simon's showbiz and civilian friends asking him how he could survive in LA without a car. He ''could'' just use his jet belt to fly anywhere, of course, but the thought of being able to drive ''others'' around town had never occurred to him.
** ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'' is likewise based out of LA, and sees a crossover with the Runaways.
* ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'': The comic often featured Los Antelopes, Califurnia, Earth-C's Los Angeles. Los Antelopes' various neighborhoods and suburbs were often featured in stories, including Saint Bernardino (San Bernardino), Bel-Airedale (Bel-Air), Beaverly Hills (Beverly Hills) and Follywood (Hollywood), the latter where the Zoo Crew's headquarters were located.
* ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsKateBishop Kate Bishop]], the second Hawkeye, starts operating out of LA near the beginning of her solo career, eventually getting [[ComicBook/Hawkeye2016 her own book.]] This leads into ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers2018''.
* ''ComicBook/{{Manhunter}}'': The series follows Federal Prosecutor Kate Spencer, who is based out of LA.
* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'': One of the major plot points is the fact that the kids are in LA and not NYC. It turns out that the city's relative dearth of superhuman activity is due to the Pride secretly controlling the whole city, and their defeat is followed by an EvilPowerVacuum.
[[/folder]]

** '''Angel City FC''' was announced in 2020 as California's first entry in the National Women's Soccer League, with a start date of 2022. It's sharing BMO Stadium with LAFC; during its first season, it held home matches in the early-season NWSL Challenge Cup at Titan Stadium on the Cal State Fullerton campus. For 2023, all home matches, including those in the Challenge Cup, are at BMO Stadium. Right now, the club is best known for its literal army of owners, quite a few of whom have pages on This Very Wiki. The lead investors include Creator/NataliePortman and Internet billionaire Alexis Ohanian, husband of tennis great Serena Williams (who has a smaller ownership stake of her own). Other members of the ownership group include Creator/UzoAduba, Creator/SophiaBush, Creator/JessicaChastain, Creator/JamesCorden, Creator/AmericaFerrera, Creator/JenniferGarner, Creator/EvaLongoria, other celebrities who don't have pages yet, and a large cast of prominent sports figures.

Los Angeles, the City of Angels, Tinseltown, La La Land, or simply L.A.-- or, its (probable)[[labelnote:*]]Historians have uncovered evidence of a bunch of different renderings of the long name used by the Spanish, with the ''Nuestra Señora'' portion especially seeming to be optional based on whoever was mentioning the place.[[/labelnote]] original name, [[OverlyLongName El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Rio de Porciúncula]] [[note]]"The City of our Lady, the Queen of the Angels, of the River of Porciúncula". ''Porciúncula'' is sometimes misreported as meaning "piglet", but it's actually the Spanish version of ''Porzioncola'', the name of the Italian chapel where the Franciscan order was founded. The river had been named by Franciscan friars[[/note]]. Regardless of what you call it, Los Angeles is one of the world's most famous cities and home to the heart of the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates' film and television industry. It is the second largest city in the country behind only UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, though it gets bonus points for being the largest metropolitan area in the US contained entirely within a [[UsefulNotes/{{California}} single state]].[[note]]Greater New York is spread over '''four''' states ([[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState New York]], Connecticut, UsefulNotes/NewJersey, and UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}}), while Greater Chicago includes portions of Southeastern UsefulNotes/{{Wisconsin}} and Northwestern Indiana.[[/note]] Los Angeles County is the most-populous county in the US, with almost twice as many people as #2, [[UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} Cook County, IL]].[[note]]Los Angeles County contains 87 other cities, 15 of which have over a hundred thousand people each - Los Angeles itself is less than half of the county's population. Even if all five NYC counties (the boroughs) combined into one--which, they technically already ''are''--LA County would be larger.[[/note]]

Los Angeles was the site of a single battle, which lasted 45 days and was an American defeat. New, square city blocks were laid out alongside awkwardly shaped farmland that was to be maintained right downtown. This plan failed spectacularly. Either way, LA essentially became [[TheDeepSouth Dixie]]-west, with a mostly southern, pro-slavery population. This was so pervasive that in the Civil War, fortresses were built to keep people from trying to invade (culturally very Northern) San Francisco.

Los Angeles began to decline in TheFifties as crime increased, inner-city neighborhoods fell into disrepair, and huge numbers of people fled to the suburbs.[[note]]Because of its vast land holdings, population nominally continued to increase, but even today there's a '''major''' distinction between the suburban ''West Side'' and ''Valley'' and the more traditional, landlocked "City."[[/note]] Tom Bradley was elected as the nation's second African-American big-city mayor in 1973 and held office for [[LongRunner two straight decades]], overseeing the city surpass UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} as the country's #2 city. However, things didn't really pick up. Symptoms of what would later be known since as AIDS would be discovered in 1981 (the city's bicentennial), and L.A. has since been one of the original top three highest reporting American cities for it--next to New York and now just before San Francisco--in descending order. The 1984 Olympics were a highlight,[[note]]Los Angeles is the only American city to host the Summer Olympics twice; the first time was in 1932, though Olympic Boulevard was named three years before that. It will also become the only American city to host the Summer Olympics three times come 2028.[[/note]] but eight years later came another low point in the city's history: the 1992 Riots, which kicked off shortly after four LAPD officers were acquitted of using excessive force on Rodney King during his arrest after they were videotaped beating him by a man with a camcorder. The local and national news played this tape many, many times on TV between the arrest and eventual trial and acquittal, leading many to believe the court had let police officers get away with an obvious violent crime. The riots over it got so bad at one point that the governor of California requested assistance from the Army and Marines to restore peace, and Bradley retired not long after.[[note]]If one were to watch Hollywood movies from this time, you might suspect that the city had been irrevocably torn apart by this. In fact, it could be argued that the riots brought people together, as their scope and the perceived lack of police response (choosing instead to retreat to the richest areas) left everyone in danger.[[/note]]

* East L.A., a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood most renown for [[Creator/CheechAndChong Cheech Marin's]] movie ''Film/BornInEastLA''. It's adjacent to the separate cities of the San Gabriel Valley (San Gabriel, Rosemead, and Alhambra), a major East Asian settlement.

A nice advantage to this sprawl is that most of the city isn't especially crowded or cramped compared to many others of its size. Most houses have at least a small backyard, and the climate lends itself well to gardening. Bordered by Pacific Ocean on one side, LA has glorious weather for most of the year, is full of sunshine and trade-winds, and is also relatively insect-free. Los Angeles is also one of the United States' great food cities, with food trucks being a common form of dining for people of all neighborhoods and economic classes, a practice that the city encourages rather than trying to get rid of, and chefs such as Roy Choi being HouseholdNames. Sometimes described as "the least European city in America", Los Angeles' cultural roots are overwhelmingly Latin American, Asian, and Middle Eastern. Owing to the postwar boom and its unique automobile culture, Los Angeles can be described as the home of the drive-thru. Name a fast-food chain subjected to BurgerFool style parody, and odds are it was founded somewhere in the greater L.A.-O.C.-San Diego area. A ''handful'' of such chains include UsefulNotes/McDonalds, Taco Bell, Del Taco, Jack in the Box, Wienerschnitzel, Fatburger, In-n-Out, Rubio's, El Pollo Loco, Tommy's, and Carl's Jr.

But before you pack your bags and move, take into account that this package, especially in the city proper, comes with a side order of mediocre air quality,[[note]]This being due largely to Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley being a basin surrounded by mountains and experiencing frequent atmospheric inversion layers that trapped hydrocarbon emissions closed to the ground. Actually, the air quality used to be much, ''much'' worse, so much so that it was often used as a comedy gag (no pun intended). But thanks to strict air quality laws passed in the '60s and '70s, air quality in the L.A. area has greatly improved and this is now on its way to becoming a DeadHorseTrope.[[/note]] famously bad traffic, expensive real estate, and all the headaches that come with sharing 500 square miles (~1,000 square kilometers) with millions of your fellow human beings, all of whom want your parking spot. L.A. is sometimes called the "City on Wheels"--public transportation is far, ''far'' behind most cities its size and walking anywhere in Los Angeles is ill-advised. You ''really'' need to buy a car to live here, and because of the decentralized nature of the sprawl, long work commutes of 50 miles or more are common.

[[HollywoodCalifornia The film district]] is mostly in the [[ValleyGirl San Fernando Valley]] nowadays; the neighborhood of Hollywood itself is mostly tourist attractions and below-the-line parts of the industry (editing, effects, props, lighting, post-production). Creator/{{Disney}} and Creator/WarnerBros' studios are all in the Valley, with Creator/{{Paramount}} the only studio still physically based in Hollywood (though Creator/{{Sony}} is also on the Westside). Creator/{{Universal}} is based just outside Hollywood in - wait for it - Universal City.[[note]]Yes, Universal Studios Hollywood is mostly a theme park, but they still do actual shoots on the property - mostly commercials and stuff for NBC shows, since Comcast owns both NBC and Universal. The executives at Universal work in the large skyscraper nearby at the bottom of the hill.[[/note]] The Valley is also the center of the American adult entertainment industry (the {{Creator/HBO}} series ''Pornucopia'' estimated that 90% of all American porn is produced or shot there), leading to monikers like "Porn Valley" and "Silicone Valley". The non-filming parts of The Industry may, of course, be done anywhere, but KirksRock is conveniently located just a half hour's drive to the north.

If you want to confuse a local, ask about the [[DownLADrain Los Angeles River]]. You've probably seen it. If you watched ''[[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay Terminator 2]]'' you may remember the scene where the T-1000's semi truck crashes off of the road and chases John Connor down a concrete drainage channel with an inch of water in it. That would be "El Rio de Los Angeles." It was also the location of the big race scene in ''Film/{{Grease}}'', and an emergency space shuttle landing in ''Film/TheCore''.

The famous Griffith Observatory (and Griffith Park itself), located 8 miles north-west of the civic center overlooking Hollywood, has been in more films than most actors have. It is the site where Arnold arrived by time warp in ''Film/TheTerminator'', where ''Film/TheRocketeer'' blasted off to fight Nazis on a blimp, where the ''Film/Transformers2007'' perched, where ''Series/MacGyver1985'' lived in the show's pilot, and where Creator/JamesDean had his famous knife fight and shoot-out in ''Film/RebelWithoutACause''. It also appears in ''Series/CharliesAngels'', ''Film/YesMan'', ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}''... you get the idea. Just down the road a bit is the famous tunnel where Marty fought Biff in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', also serving as the entrance to [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit Toon Town]], and down the hill a bit is the entrance to the [[Series/Batman1966 Adam West-era Batcave]].

Angelenos' most famous VerbalTic is probably using the definite article before freeway numbers: "Take the I-5 to the I-10, and get off just before you hit the 605." Another one to listen for is that they tend not to use "Hollywood" as a metonym for the TV and movie business, as opposed to a place name. One might live in Hollywood, but you'll work in "the Industry."

* The '''Los Angeles Lakers''' are one of the city's two basketball teams. Relocated from Minneapolis in 1960s, they have consistently been among the best teams (with 12 championships in Los Angeles) and many of the game's biggest stars (Jerry West, UsefulNotes/WiltChamberlain, Creator/KareemAbdulJabbar, Magic Johnson, Creator/ShaquilleONeal, Kobe Bryant, and UsefulNotes/LeBronJames, to name just a few). The Lakers made their arena, the Forum in Inglewood, world famous before they moved to the also-iconic Crypto.com Arena (recently renamed from Staples Center) downtown.

* The '''LA Galaxy''' has been in the league since it began play in 1996. Even before Major League Soccer developed a large following nationwide, the Galaxy was ''the'' best-known team in the country, due in part to Los Angeles' built-in fandom of immigrants from Latin America and later due to the signing of British soccer icon David Beckham. The post-Beckham years saw them pick up a few more international stars, with Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimović the most notable. They're also the most decorated franchise in the league, with 5 MLS Cups, 4 Supporters' Shields, 2 US Open Cups, and even a CONCACAF Champions League title in 2000, making them the only American team to earn a bid to the FIFA Club World Cup (even if it was canceled that year). The Galaxy play at Dignity Health Sports Park in the outlying industrial suburb of Carson.

** There are two other NCAA Division I athletic programs within the city limits: the '''Cal State Northridge Matadors''', representing California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in the San Fernando Valley, and the '''Loyola Marymount Lions''', representing Loyola Marymount University (LMU) on the Westside (near LAX). CSUN's strongest sports are softball and track, while LMU is best-known for their Cinderella run to the Elite Eight in the 1990 NCAA men's basketball tournament.

* The '''Los Angeles Dodgers''' are the city's main Major League Baseball team, arriving in 1958 from Brooklyn (to the eternal dismay of many Long Islanders). They have carried on the old Brooklyn tradition of EveryYearTheyFizzleOut - the Dodgers have now lost more World Series than any other team (14), over half of those to their old cross-city rivals, the New York Yankees. Their strongest rivalries are with the Yankees and the other team that they once shared New York with, the UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco Giants. The Dodgers' first decade in Los Angeles was their best as a team, earning three World Series titles in 1959, 1963, and 1965, in large part due to legendary pitcher Sandy Koufax. They were often competitive through the 1970s and early 1980s, but only managed one World Series win in the strike-shortened 1981 season. After Kirk Gibson's "One Good Swing" in 1988 led the way to a title, it took them nearly 30 years to even get back to the World Series. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, they performed with consistent indistinction, but a new ownership group in the early 2010s led to them consistently winning their division but no World Series championship until the COVID-shortened season of 2020, the franchise's seventh World Series championship. Their home field, Dodger Stadium, is now the third-oldest in Major League Baseball, and is isolated on top of mountainous Elysian Park, a location famous for being wonderfully central yet frustratingly inaccessible. Incidentally, Los Angeles has produced more active MLB players than any other city.
* The '''Los Angeles Angels''' ... don't actually play in Los Angeles. At least, not anymore. Founded in 1961 by Music/GeneAutry, and taking their name from a minor league team that used to play in LA until the Dodgers arrived, they initially did play in LA itself until they got their own ballpark in Anaheim, at which time they renamed themselves the California Angels, a name they used for the next 30 years. When the stadium was renovated in the mid 90s, the city of Anaheim insisted on them adopting "Anaheim" as part of their name (even though the "Angels" part is a clear reference to LA). The team, at the time owned by Disney, became the Anaheim Angels, but when current owner Artie Moreno bought them, he wanted to emphasize the team as an LA-metro area team, so he brought back the Los Angeles Angels name, with "of Anaheim" tacked on to the end (and rarely used). Eventually that was dropped. The team has largely had streaks of solid years mixed between periods of middle of the pack finishes, though they did win the 2002 World Series. Current star Mike Trout is a frequent candidate for best all-around player currently in the game, and Japanese star Shohei Ohtani achieved perhaps greater prominence for his recent performance as a starting pitcher ''AND'' full-time designated hitter; before the 2024 season, he signed with the Dodgers for the largest contract in sports history.

** As for #1 in men's championships? That'd be the '''USC Trojans''', best known for their [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball football]] team, which has been strong for much of the 21st century, notably during a stretch in the mid-2000s that got vacated due to improper benefits given to a star player. They're also historically strong in baseball, women's basketball and swimming and diving.

Los Angeles has been described as the biggest ''small town'' in the country instead of its second-largest city due to its fairly unique urban geography. As with many cities in the American West, it experienced explosive growth after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. With the rise of car culture at the same time, Los Angeles raced outwards in all directions, blanketing the land with {{Suburbia}}. To cope with the sheer vastness of the place, the local lexicon splits the megalopolis into a patchwork of neighborhoods, former cities that voluntarily merged to access the city's water[[note]]Hollywood is the most well known, but other examples include Venice Beach, Century City, Westwood, Encino, Van Nuys, and Sherman Oaks[[/note]], and still-independent cities completely surrounded by L.A. on all sides[[note]][[Music/StraightOuttaCompton Compton]], Inglewood, Santa Monica, East Los Angeles, [[{{Gayborhood}} West Hollywood]], [[ItCameFromBeverlyHills Beverly Hills]], Culver City, Burbank, Pasadena, and El Segundo[[/note]].

* The Harbor Area, with the L.A. neighborhood of San Pedro rubbing up against the cities of Long Beach and Carson.
* El Segundo and the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), recognizable for its Space Age Theme Building.
* The South Bay, a stretch of coast between Long Beach and LAX/El Segundo. Consists of Redondo Beach, Torrance, and the Palos Verdes peninsula.

* No discussion of LA sports would be complete without mentioning the two major universities in the city, the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, both of which are referred to almost ''exclusively'' by their initialisms of UCLA and USC. (Just be careful with the latter one in the DeepSouth, as it can also refer to the University of South Carolina.)
** The '''UCLA Bruins''' are best known for their men's basketball team, which is almost always strong but never quite as dominant as in the late '60s and early '70s, where they won championship after championship under legendary coach John Wooden and at one point had a winning streak that spanned three seasons; however, they're good at more than just basketball, ranking #2 in Division I history in both men's team championships across all sports and in women's team championships across all sports as well as #2 in men's and women's combined.
** As for #1 in men's championships? That'd be the '''USC Trojans''', best known for their [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball football]] team, which has been strong for much of the 21st century, notably during a stretch in the mid-2000s that got vacated due to improper benefits given to a star player.

Los Angeles was first built in 1781 by Felipe de Neve as an outpost for travelers, cattle ranchers and the Spanish military, but mainly as a city for the Tongva people. In fact, Downtown Los Angeles was the site of the Tongva capital, Yaanga, [[note]]''Yaa'' means "poison oak", ''nga'' means "place", a suffix also seen in familiar place names like Cahuenga, Cucamonga and Topanga[[/note]] for centuries. Although planned on a grid, the massive hills nearby forced the streets to radiate out medieval-style from a central marketplace. Despite a tiny population, the town was staggeringly diverse[[note]]This would turn out to be a CharacteristicTrope of the city[[/note]], and by the time of the UsefulNotes/MexicanAmericanWar, it housed as many Italians, Chinese and Americans as native Mexicans.

Los Angeles was first built in 1781 by Felipe de Neve as an outpost for travelers, cattle ranchers and the Spanish military, but mainly as a city for the Tongva people. In fact, Downtown Los Angeles had the site of the Tongva capital, Yangna [[note]]Tongva for "poison oak place"[[/note]], for centuries. Although planned on a grid, the massive hills nearby forced the streets to radiate out medieval-style from a central marketplace. Despite a tiny population, the town was staggeringly diverse[[note]]This would turn out to be a CharacteristicTrope of the city[[/note]], and by the time of the UsefulNotes/MexicanAmericanWar, it housed as many Italians, Chinese and Americans as native Mexicans.

* The '''LA Clippers''' are Los Angeles' ''other'' NBA franchise. Their home arena is also Crypto.com Arena, making it the only venue that hosts two NBA teams. Relocated from San Diego in 1984 (hence the naval nickname), the Clippers were famous for being one of the worst teams in basketball (they've never won a championship), largely because they were owned by cheapskate slumlord Donald Sterling until he was caught on tape spouting blatant racism and was forced to sell. Microsoft co-founder Steve Ballmer spent $2 ''billion'' dollars to buy the team (which, again, was a laughing stock, second-rate team). Now they're looking at building a new arena to call their own next to the new NFL stadium and have seriously stepped up at becoming a significant player in the league (though they'll likely never fully escape the shadow of the Lakers).

Los Angeles, the City of Angels, Tinseltown, La La Land, or simply L.A.-- or, its (probable)[[labelnote:*]]Historians have uncovered evidence of a bunch of different renderings of the long name used by the Spanish, with the ''Nuestra Señora'' portion especially seeming to be optional based on whoever was mentioning the place.[[/labelnote]] original name, [[OverlyLongName El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Rio de Porciúncula]] [[note]]"The City of our Lady, the Queen of the Angels, of the River of Porciúncula". ''Porciúncula'' is sometimes misreported as meaning "piglet", but it's actually the Spanish version of ''Porzioncola'', the name of the Italian chapel where the Franciscan order was founded. The river had been named by Franciscan friars[[/note]]. Regardless of what you call it, Los Angeles is one of the world's most famous cities and home to the heart of the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates' film and television industry. It is the second largest city in the country behind only UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, though it gets bonus points for being the largest metropolitan area in the US contained entirely within a [[UsefulNotes/{{California}} single state]].[[note]]Greater New York is spread over '''four''' states ([[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState New York]], Connecticut, UsefulNotes/NewJersey, and UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}}).[[/note]] Los Angeles County is the most-populous county in the US, with almost twice as many people as #2, [[UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} Cook County, IL]].[[note]]Los Angeles County contains 87 other cities, 15 of which have over a hundred thousand people each - Los Angeles itself is less than half of the county's population. Even if all five NYC counties (the boroughs) combined into one--which, they technically already ''are''--LA County would be larger.[[/note]]